Case Digest (G.R. No. 156117)
Facts:
Republic of the Philippines v. Jeremias and David Herbieto, G.R. No. 156117, May 26, 2005, Second Division, Chico‑Nazario, J., writing for the Court. The petition is a Rule 45 petition for review on certiorari seeking reversal of the Court of Appeals' decision affirming the Municipal Trial Court (MTC) of Consolacion, Cebu, which granted respondents' application for registration of two parcels of land.Petitioners are the Republic of the Philippines; respondents are brothers Jeremias and David Herbieto, who on 23 September 1998 filed a single land registration application with the MTC seeking confirmation of title to Lots No. 8422 and 8423 in Cabangahan, Consolacion, Cebu. They alleged purchase from their parents on 25 June 1976 and submitted, inter alia, advance survey plans in each brother’s name, technical descriptions, DENR and CENRO certifications (the latter showing the parcels were classified alienable and disposable by Forestry Administrative Order No. 4‑1063 dated 25 June 1963), Register of Deeds certifications of no title, assessment receipts (1994), and the 1976 deed of sale.
On 11 December 1998 the Republic filed an Opposition arguing (1) respondents had not fulfilled the statutory period of adverse possession; (2) respondents’ muniments were not competent evidence of bona fide acquisition; and (3) the parcels were public domain and not subject to private appropriation. The MTC set the initial hearing for 3 September 1999; notices were mailed to adjoining owners, posted on the property on 27 July 1999 and on the municipal bulletin board, and published in the Official Gazette (dated 2 August 1999; officially released 10 August 1999) and later in The Freeman Banat News (19 December 1999). At the initial hearing the MTC issued an Order of Special Default against all but the Republic; respondents offered evidence and the MTC eventually granted registration by Judgment dated 21 December 1999 and made that judgment final and executory by Order dated 2 February 2000, directing the LRA Administrator to issue a registration decree.
The Republic appealed to the Court of Appeals, which on 22 November 2002 affirmed the MTC, reasoning that the land had been alienable since 25 June 1963 and that respondents (or their predecessors) had possessed it openly and adversely since 1950, so that even reckoning possession from 1963 respondents had more than 30 years' possession such that Article 1113 and Article 1137 of the Civil Code (extraordinary prescription) entitled them to registration under Section 14(4) of Presidential Decr...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the MTC have jurisdiction to hear and decide respondents’ land registration application given the procedural irregularities (misjoinder and alleged defective publication)?
- On the merits, did respondents possess the Subject Lots for the statutory period required to judicially confirm an imperfect title to public land — i.e., could they rely on extraordinary prescription under the Civil Code, or must they satisfy Section 48(b) of the Public La...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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